Martinsburg herald. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1881-1920, 1887-06-25
/" STEPHEN ASLEEP"
FROM TALMAGE's SERMON.

Pass on now and | will show one
more picture, and that is Stephen
asleep. With q pathos and simplici.
ty peculiar to the Scriptures the text
says of Stephen: "He fell asleep"
60" you say, "what place that
was to sleep! A hard rock under
him, stones falling down upon him,
the blood streaming, the mob how
ling. What's place it was to sleep!"
And yet my text takes that symbol
OF slumber to describe bis departure,
so sweet was it, SO contented was it,
SO peaceful was it. Stephen had
lived a very laborious life. His
chief work had been to care for the
poor. How many loaves Of bread
he distributed, how many bare feet
he had sandaled,..how many cases of
sickness and distress he blessed
with ministries of kindness and love,
l do not know but from the way he
lived, and the way he preached, and
the way he died, | know he was a
laborious Christian. But that is all
over now. He has pressed the cup
to the last fainting lip. He has
taken the last insult from his
enemies. The last stone to whose
crushing weight he is susceptible
has been hurled. Stephen is dead !!
The disciples come. They take him
up. They wash away the blood
from tue wounds. They straighten
ont the bruised limbs. They brush
back the tangled hair from the brow,
and then they pass around to look
upon the calm countenance of him
who had lived for the poor and died
for the truth. Stephen asleep! I
have seen the sea driven with the
hurricane until the tangled foam
caught in the rigging, and wave
rising above wave seemed as if
about to storm the heavens, and
then | have seen the tempest drop,
and the waves crouch, aud every.
thing become smooth and FURNISHED
as though camping place for the
glOries of heaven. So have seen a
man, whose life has been tossed and
driven, coming down at last to an
infinite calm, in which there was the
hush of heavens lullaby. Stephen
asleep! saw such an one. He
fought all his days against poverty
and against abuse. They traduced
his name. They ratified at the door
knob while he was dying, with duns
for debts he could not pay yet the
peace ofGod brooded over his pillow,
and while the world faded, heaven
dawned, and the deepening twilight
OF earth's night was only the opening
twilight of heavens morn. Not a
sigh. Not tear. Not struggle.
Hush! Stephen asleep!
l have not the faculty to tell the
weather. l can never tell by the
setting sun whether there will be a
drought or not. l cannot tell by the
blowing of the wind whether it will
be fair weather or foul weather on
the morrow. But 1 can prophesy,
and will prOphesy what weather it
will be when you, the Christian,
come to die. You may have it very
rough now. 1t may be this week
one annoyance, the next another an
noyance. 1t may be this year one
bereavement, the next another
bereavement. Before this year has
passed you may have to beg for
bread, or ask for a scuttle of coal, or
a pair Of shoes; but spread yonr
death couch amid the leaves of the
forest, or make it out of the straw of
a pauper's hut, the wolf in the jun.
gle bowling close by, Or inexorable
creditors jerking the pillow from
under your dying head-Christ will
come in and darkness viii go out.
And though there may be no hand
to close your eyes, and no breast on
which to rest your dying head, and
no candle to lift the night, the odors
OF Gods hanging garden will regale
your soul, and at your bedside will
halt the chariots of the king. No
more rents to pay; no more agony
because -four has gone up; no more
struggle with the" world, the flesh,
and the devil;;" but peace-long,
deep, everlasting peace. Stephen
asleep!
Asleep in Jesus, blessed sleep,
From which none ever wake to weep
A calm and undisturbed repose,
Uninjured by the last of foes.
Asleep in Jesus, far from thee
Thy kindred and their graves may be;
II